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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The full moon of May

I was treated to the sight of a beautiful full moon rising in the east yesterday as I drove home from work. It was rising in the midst of a bank of blue-gray clouds, and was almost the color of champagne. Lovely. Some people call this the Full Flower Moon, which seems appropriate. There are flowers blooming everywhere in this part of SC right now.

In my evening walks around the neighborhood, the smells of summer are in the air. Magnolias are blooming, as are lilies, honeysuckle, roses, jasmine, and gardenias. One neighbor of ours has the most gorgeous rose garden, with huge old rose bushes sprawling and climbing everywhere. Another neighbor that I met recently has a huge vegetable garden. He is an old man that grows most of it to give away to food banks. He has over 100 tomato plants, rows upon rows of butterbeans, cucumbers, squash, watermelons, and several peach trees. It really puts my tiny little garden to shame!

I only planted 8 tomato plants this year, and gave the rest away. I wanted to keep my garden small so that I don't end up overwhelmed by July. My herbs are doing great. In fact, I will be harvesting lavender flowers later this week. My tea herbs are coming along very well. I already have extra basil and oregano to share, and the rosemary bush is getting really big.

I just love this time of year. This has also been a cool May so far, and my tomatoes are flowering like crazy! I always worry when the heat sets in too early because too much heat and humidity will cause tomatoes to fail to set fruit. We are having nights in the 50's, and days only in the high 70's...perfect tomato weather.

Today is cloudy and a light rain is falling. I hope it clears up before tonight so I can do a bit more full moon gazing. Happy Flower Moon!